Prologue: The Sunrise (Chapter)
Prologue: The Sunrise is a 30-page one-shot chapter of Fairy Tail by Hiro Mashima. It was bundled with tickets for Fairy Tail: Phoenix Priestess for those who purchased them in advance. It is a prologue to the film Fairy Tail: Phoenix Priestess and was personally drawn by Hiro Mashima himself who was in charge of story planning, visual designing and guest character designing for the film. Summary In a village, somewhere in the desert, Éclair is walking through a bazaar. After tucking her half of the Phoenix Stone into her clothes, she stops at one of the stalls and asks if they have any cotton. The man says they don't have any in stock, but they have duck feathers but that they are expensive, but Éclair says that is fine with her. While the man is putting the feathers in a bag for Éclair, he says that this place used to be busy with goods being imported from countries in the west, though after his grandfather's time, a war occurred. Éclair corrects him, saying it was not a war but a volcanic eruption. After receiving the bag with the duck feathers, Éclair thanks the man by name and leaves, with the man wondering whether he told her his name. After returning to her home, built in a cave in the desert with various carved birds, Éclair sits by her window before setting to work. She cuts a section of a cloth and sews it into shape before stuffing it with the feathers she bought. Once she finishes, she holds up the toy bird she has made, noting its weird face. During the night, Éclair wakes to find the stone glowing. The stuffed toy bird begins to glow as well and Éclair falls out of her bed, startled. After the glow subsides, the bird shakily stands up and then greets her. Alarmed that the toy bird is talking, Éclair dives under her covers, believing this to be a dream. The bird asks her to give him a name, but Éclair yells at it not to talk and to go away, saying that she hates magic. After a few moments, Éclair takes her head out from under the covers and turns to see the bird sitting gloomily in the corner. Apologizing, Éclair asks the bird what he is and gets a plain answer - a bird. She wonders why a stuffed bird is talking, to which the bird says that God probably gave him life as Éclair was lonely. Éclair asks if it was Magic, but the bird doesn't know. She recalls the stone glowed before the bird came alive, leading the bird to think that it was the stone's magic. Éclair then notes the bird's weird face, to which the bird points out that saying that was a bit mean as she was the one who made him. Éclair then dives under the cover again, thinking that she must be dreaming. The next morning, Éclair wakes up, believing that the events of that night were a dream after all, until she sees the bird waiting by her bed. Later as she walks through the desert with the bird behind her, Éclair tells the bird not to follow her as she has work to do. The bird promises not to disturb her but asks for a name, so Éclair calls him 'Bird' and when the bird complains, she tells him that she hates Magic and therefore hates him as well. Upset, the bird says that it was her who made him, to which Éclair replies that she didn't expect him to come to life. Later, in a tent at the village, Éclair reads an old lady's fortune, talking about one of their ancestors. Éclair says about how he was working at a coal mine, how he loved alcohol and fell sick because of it. She warns the lady to keep a look out and not drink too much lest history repeat itself. After the lady leaves, the bird praises Éclair's fortune telling. She reminds the bird that he promised not to talk, but goes on to say that it doesn't matter as she hasn't many customers today. She then tells him that she isn't able to predict the future, merely look at a person's past and make stuff up. The bird praises it as Magic, but Éclair tells him it isn't Magic before telling him to hide as someone was coming. A boy then comes in with his dead pet weasel and asks Éclair if she can save it. Éclair tells him she isn't a Mage and adds that even if she was, there are no spells to revive the dead, which is why life is important. She then tells the boy that his weasel must have been happy to have a caring owner and to not forget that. The boy then tearfully asks if he will die someday as well, to which Éclair says that people live their lives as best they can so they don't have regrets when 'someday' comes. Crying, the boy says he doesn't want to die but live forever, as Éclair remains silent. In the evening, Éclair and the bird walk home as the bird comments on how Éclair was to that child. Éclair then stops as she realizes that the Phoenix Stone is missing and the bird suggests that maybe the string tied to it broke as it was old. As Éclair turns back towards the village, the bird says about how it was getting dark, suggesting they look tomorrow and reminding her the villager said that wolves are around at night. Éclair then yells at the scared bird that the stone is more important to her than he knows and not to bother her anymore. Back at the village, Éclair searches for the stone but is unable to find it. As she does, she tries to remember why the stone was so important to her but is unable to. Éclair then collapses and soon a pack of wolves approach her. The next morning, Éclair wakes to find herself back in her bed with the Phoenix Stone round her neck. Going outside, she finds the damaged bird, sitting on watch, with an axe in hand. Éclair asks if he found the Phoenix Stone and brought her home, which the bird confirms, adding that the wolves took a little of him. Éclair asks why and the bird replies it was because she only has him and that he was born to be her friend. Éclair hugs the bird and thanks him. As she begins fixing him, the bird says that she won't be lonely anymore to which Éclair agrees as the bird is her friend. She then gives the bird the real name she had in mind for him, 'Momon' (derived from momonga, meaning flying squirrel). Momon is surprised that he was originally meant to be a squirrel but when asked if there was something wrong says there isn't. Later, Momon asks where they are going. Éclair tells him she is going to restart her journey as she feels she has an important mission regarding the Phoenix Stone. Momon says he'll follow wherever she goes, to which she agrees. Sometime later, the two are walking through a street in a busy town when they pass Natsu, Lucy and Happy, as Lucy is telling Natsu off for destroying the restaurant they were at. The two girls briefly look at one another before Lucy hurries after Natsu and Happy. Momon mentions he has heard about a town named Magnolia nearby and says they should take a look there, but Éclair, considering that there are many Mages there which she doesn't like, decides to go some other day. Characters in Order of Appearance #Éclair #Momon #Dyst #Lucy Heartfilia #Natsu Dragneel #Happy Battles & Events *None Magic, Spells, and Abilities used Magic used *None Spells used *None Abilities used *None Items used *Phoenix Stone *Orb *Axe Navigation